Love Beads
by Gypsy Tollamer
Summary: Set in the 1960's. Prior to the Vietnam drafts Trowa and Heero who are white collar look for love in manhattan and find it in the place they never expected. Think sorta: Woodstock meets Mad Men. Pairings: 3x4, 1x2 Eventual- 5xR get together for all
1. Default Chapter

                                                            Love Beads

                                                     By: Gypsy Tollamer

Gypsy: Thanks to Rinoa for helping me think of this fic! My parents grew up during the sixties but they were lame and didn't do the whole hippie thing. My Dad was from Australia and had flat feet so he didn't get drafted and my mom was working in Atlanta for Emory freight at the time earning enough money to live comfortably with her 3 poodles. I act like a total hippie and think it was a wonderful concept that was just a little misguided. So, Make Love and don't flame me!

            Heero Yuy leaned against the seat in the subway car. He was waiting for his three friends to get on at the next two stops. Wufei and Meiren got on at the next one and then Trowa. The subway slowed down and he watched as the seats next to him were vacating quickly. Heero breathed on his hand. His breath couldn't be that bad.

            Meiren came in with Wufei and took the seat next to Heero. Wufei chose to seat across from him.

            "You okay Heero?" Meiren asked.

            "Yeah, I'm breaking it off with Sylvia tonight." He said. 

            "Can you ever stay in a relationship?" Wufei asked. "This is like the 3rd back to back girl you've broken up with in less then 6 months."

            "Yeah first there was Relena, then Dorothy from Trowa's office and now Sylvia. She's really gonna hate me for setting you up with her in the first place." Meiren said flipping her black hair over her shoulder.         

            'Sorry, she's just not my type." Heero said.

            " Well what is your type?" he asked.

            "A nice person who I can be comfortable around." He said. "One where I'm not afraid to be myself."

            "Oh you want a girl who you can act like the cold, sarcastic ass hole, you are." Meiren said.

            Heero started at her as the train began to slow down. Trowa came on the train and sat beside Wufei.

            "God, Yuy. What crawled up your ass and died?" he asked loosening his tie.

            "Shut up, Barton." Heero said.

            "He's breaking up with Sylvia tonight." Meiren said. A couple more people got on the train and 2 caught Heero's eye as Meiren continued to talk like the little pigeon she was.

            A girl wearing an Indian cotton skirt and blouse sat in the block seat across the isle from them. She sat her messenger bag in the seat across from her. Two boys came scrambling down the isles before the train lurched forward. One had a long chestnut braid and had on tinted sunglasses. He was wearing ripped black pants and a white tanktop with a fringed jacket. The other one had a guitar and sat it in the seat with the girl's bag. He was short with blonde hair underneath a suede poets hat. He had on jeans with an Indian cotton shirt. He also a pierced ear with a feather hanging from it. He had a ring on each finger and sun kissed skin. 

            "Yuy." Wufei yelled in his ear causing Heero to jump.

            "What are you staring at?" Meiren asked.

            "Nothing." He said pushing a piece of hair behind his ear.

            " Would you look at that? Hippies." Wufei said in a hushed voice. "You'd think it would be too concrete in New York for them"

            Trowa looked across the ilse t the blonde who was right across from him. He was amazing looking. Innocent and yet sexy. It was common knowledge to anyone that Hippies were Satanists and sex fiends. They slept in the park, bathed in rivers, did drugs and didn't believe in saving sex for marriage. Suddenly the subway car lurched forward and stopped throwing everyone out of the seats. Trowa saw Meiren get thrown toward him and he grabbed her before falling out of his seat into the isle. He also saw a flash of blonde hair before the blonde fell to the floor between the seats. There was the screeching of breaks and metal crunching. He saw Heero get thrown against the window and his best friends Eyes roll into the back of his head before hitting his head on the side of car and blacking out.

            Duo opened his eyes after the car stopped moving. Hilde was in his lap ,a cut causing blood to run down her arm. She had obviously hit it against something. He groaned and opened her eyes.

            "Duo, what happened?" she asked. 

            "I don't know." He said. "Where's Quatre?"

            "Down here." A voice said. Duo looked down and there on the floor was Quatre. 'Are you two alright?"

            "Yeah I think so. How about you buddy?" he asked.

            "Yeah." Quatre said. "Everything's groovy. The blond sat up and grabbed his hat. "My back is killing me."

            Duo looked around and saw all the people around him groaning as they started recover. He heard a little kid crying and he stood up. A little red headed girl was sitting in the floor by a seat. The woman laying beside her unconscious. Duo jumped over people to get to her.

            "You okay sweety?" he asked looking her over. She looked alright, just frightened. He looked at the woman. She looked like a respectable woman. She had brown hair and a the glasses hanging off one ear were broken. She looked alright except she had a pretty nasty bruise on one temple. "Your mommy will be okay." She picked the woman up and layed her on the long seat. The little girl sniffled.

            "You sure?" she asked politely.

            "I'm sure." Duo said kneeling down beside her. "What's your name, princess?"

            "Mariemaia." She said.

            "Pretty name for a pretty princess." He said sitting her on the seat by her mother. "I'm gonna go check the other people, kay? You sit here and be brave, kay?"

            "Kay." She said. 

            Duo looked up. Quatre was helping an oriental lady up off of a guy who had grabbed her before she fell. The guy slowly sat up and Duo was a pretty nasty cut coming off of his forhead. He knew Quatre could handle it. Hilde was helping an elderly couple get off of the floor. Things seemed to be pretty good. For what ever happened. Duo looked out of the broken window to see that some of the other cars had been turned over sideways. They had crashed or something.

            "Looks like we're not going anywhere for a long time." He said.

            People groaned at the news.

            Quatre helped the young oriental lady up and helped the young man sit up.  There was some blood coming off from his head possibly his scalp.

            Quatre took a shirt out of his bag and ripped the sleeve off. Good thing about Indian cotton, it ripped easily. He pressed against the man's head.

            "That looks pretty nasty." He said.

            "Thanks" he said. Quatre noticed his eyes were green. Green eyed people were supposed to be passionate with a deep love of nature.

            "I'm Quatre.' He said taking the man's hand and pressing it against the cut on his head. "You hold that there."

            "Trowa Barton." The man said.

            "Very nice to meet you." Quatre said.

            "Is Meiren okay?" he asked.

            "Your girlfriend? She's alright. She's taking care of the two guys you were sitting with. One's out cold.

            'She's not my girl. She's Wufei's." he said.

            "The stern looking chinese guy?" Quatre asked.

            "yup." He said. "He's not as nice as he looks." Quatre laughed and he smiled.

            "You have beautiful smile. You shouldn't hide it." He said taking another piece of cloth and using it to wipe the dirt off of Trowa's cheek. "I never knew you could get so dirty from a subway car."

            "You're pretty messy yourself." Trowa said.

            "Thanks." He said blushing. Quatre knew he was attracted to men but he had never felt this feeling before. It was a feeling of butterflies in his stomach, shaking hands and happiness all at once."

            "Are you okay?" Trowa asked. "You're shaking."

            "Well this place is too cold." Quatre said. 

                                                ONE HOUR LATER

                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Trowa leaned against the side of the car. Quatre was sitting next to him with his bag in his lap and his guitar beside him.

            "So what do you do for a living Trowa?" Quatre asked.

            "I'm a stock broker." He said. Quatre made a face. "I know it's boring"

            "Well if it's what you want to do." Quatre said. 

            "That's the thing I hate it." Trowa said. "But it's my dad's firm, I can't quite or anything."

            "Well you could." Quatre said. "I refused to work for my dad and that's why he threw me out. But I like my life now. Total freedom and peace."

            "So you don't do anything?" Trowa asked. "You just live?"

            "Basically. I play my guitar and sell love beads." Quatre said.

            "Love beads?" Trowa asked. Quatre reached into his bag and pulled out a strand of beads. They were certainly colorful.

            Quatre put the strand around his neck. "Consider this one on the house." He whispered before running his lips across Trowa's. Suddenly lights invaded the windows of the car. It was the emergency crew to get them out.

            "They'll go to the cars that are turned over first." Quatre said. 

            Trowa then looked over at Heero who was actually talking to the braided guy that had been sitting with Quatre. Wufei and Meiren were snuggled in close together in a deep kiss. 

            He heard a click and watched as Quatre lighted up a cigarette. 

            "You want one?" he asked pulling one out.

            'Sure." Trowa said taking it and putting in his mouth. Quatre lit it for him and Trowa inhaled the smoke and moaned. "That's just what I needed."

            "Me too." Quatre said watching as Wufei was practicing some more moves on his girlfriend. "Your friends are interesting."

            "Mine? What about yours?" Trowa asked. They both laughed and proceeded to wait for the EMS crews to break the cars doors open.

            "Goodbye Trowa Barton." Quatre said as they both left the subway station together. There friends were ahead of them.

            "Goodbye?" he asked. He hadn't wanted this night to end so soon. He didn't know why though. Trowa had never been attracted to anyone before. Let alone a boy like Quatre. Who was a social reject because of his views and lifestyle.

            "Yes. You must go on and persue your fate as the desperately bored Stock Broker and I must go live my life as the wind wishes." He said.

            "Where can I reach you? You know, to talk." He asked.

            "Where ever the world wishes." Quatre said before putting Trowa's fingertips to his lips. Then he turned to catch up with his friends. Leaving Trowa in the dust of the New York city streets.

            "Hurry up Trowa!" Wufei said and Trowa turned to return to his miserable life not knowing that his best friend Heero was feeling the same way.

END OF PART ONE


	2. seredipity

Love Beads

By: Gypsy Tollamer

Part 2

            Trowa ran to catch up with his friends but he couldn't help but turn around and look once more at the boy that had made him feel alive for the first time in what seemed like forever. 

            "I'm just going to cancel my date with Sylvia." Heero said. "My head is killing me and I know hearing her cry would make it worse."

            Meiren snorted.

            "Please Yuy." She said. "You're just making excuses and Sylvia wouldn't cry."

            "We're going to head home now." Wufei said grabbing his wife's arm and dragging her down the street in the opposite way. Trowa and Heero continued to walk toward their building. The two friends were pretty much quiet the whole way. 

            "This was an interesting day." Trowa said. "It's not everyday we escape death and meet new people that we actually talk to."

            "Huh?" Heero asked. 

            "You talked to that braided guy for a while." Trowa reminded him.

            "His name's Duo." He said. "What about the blonde? You were pretty friendly."

            "Quatre. He helped stop my head from bleeding. The least I could do was have a conversation with him."

            Heero nodded.

            "Do you believe what all those people say?" he asked.

            "About Hippies?" Trowa asked. Heero nodded again. "Well I used to but not anymore. Quatre kind of put it into perspective for me."

            "Duo did the same for me. He said he's sleeping in a tent in Central Park and that there you feel like you're in a type of desert oasis only consisting of trees and concrete." He said.

            "Central park?" Trowa asked. "I never thought of it like that."

            "Me neither. In fact he just made me think in general." Heero said opening the door to the apartment building. 

            The two friends got into the elevator and were quiet until they reached their floor then they opened the door to their apartments.

            "Good night Trowa." Heero said opening the door to B11. Trowa did the same to room B12.

            "Night Heero." Trowa entered the apartment and went straight to his bedroom. He stripped out of his clothes and put on his pajamas before slipping under the sheets and into a deep sleep.

            Trowa awoke to a banging on his door. He rolled over and saw that the clock said seven in the morning. The boy stumbled out of bed.

            "I'm going to kill Heero." He mumbled before opening to door to his apartment to reveal not Heero but Quatre.

            "How did you?" he asked completely aghast.

            "Find out where you live?" he asked. "I realized I still had your wallet and low and behold your address was in there." 

            "When did you get my wallet?" Trowa asked.

            "it fell out and I picked it up. I meant to give it back but I forgot." The blonde said. "Nice jammies."

            Trowa looked down and blushed. 

            "Come on in." he said opening the door for Quatre. "I'm going to change. Be right back."

            Quatre looked around the simply decorated living room. A stack of playbills sat on the coffee table and pieces of hand blown glass sat on the shelves next to the giant record player. This was nice. Nicer then the stuffy house he had grown up in.

            Trowa came into the room looking as handsome as Quatre remembered.

            "That was fast. I'm not used to you wall street type just throwing on something." He said.

            'And how many of us do you know?" Trowa asked sitting on the couch.

            "I've slept with a couple. There was Treize from the Trade center who plans on going into politics and then Alex and the other guy from the law firm." He said. "Is it okay if I smoke in here?"

            "Sure." Trowa said pulling out his ashtray and his own cigarettes. "Haven't had my morning one anyway."

            "Please don't tell me you smoke those nicotine filled smog factories." He said pointing to trowa's carton on the table.

            "They're plain cigarettes." He said in his own defence. "What the hell are those?" he pointed to a small metal tin in Quatre's hand. They better not be those special cigarettes I hear about in the bathroom."

            "They're very special." Quatre said sliding over closer to Trowa. "They're classic French clove cigarettes. I buy them Pierre who lives a couple tents over. Better then anything Mr. Marlboro could produce. Want one?"

            "Sure." Trowa said taking one of the brown paper wrapped cylinders from the tin. Quatre lit it for him and the combination of the smell and taste opened up all of Trowa's sinus glands at once. "wow" he said as he exhaled.

            "I know." Quatre said. "They're an orgasm, right?"

            "Please don't say things like that so loud. My room mate will wake up." Trowa pointed to Heero's bedroom door.

            "Living with someone? Must be because realty has gone up so bloody much." Quatre got up and walked a little around the living room. "Still it's nice I guess. If you like your home resembling a hospital."

            "Why do you do that?" Trowa asked.

            "Do what?" Quatre wondered.

            "Speak words from England and smoke cloves from france and talk about central park as a desert oasis!?" Trowa hadn't even realized he was yelling.

            "Hye, that's Duo's analogy not mine. I called it a fairy tale paradise amongst hell. But I take all the world and let it absorb. I jeans from California, I wear glass beads from italy, smoke cloves from france and drink Russian vodka. Deal with it Trowa. I'll see you later I hope." He said grabbing his bag from the floor. 

            "Where can I find you?" Trowa asked. "For real this time, I don't have time to search all over the park."

            "Then you don't have time for me. But I'll give you  a hint. Look for swans."

            And then Quatre left but not before placing his tin of cloves on the table by the door.

Part 2


	3. dream catcher

Love Beads

Trowa was walking barefoot on a path. He looked down at his white shirt and white trousers and smiled. No tie, no constrictions- He ran his hand down a tree as he

Swans. Everywhere Swans. And ballerinas in large skirts dancing to _The Beatles._

Quatre came up to him dressed all in white, tamborine in hand. He ran one of hands down Trowa's face and ripped open his shirt.

"Good morning New York…" he whispered in his ear.

"What?" Trowa groaned grasping onto a linen collar.

"It's seven am time to get up, Trowa." He felt a bite on his earlobe.

* * *

And pillow hit him in the face.

"Wake up! Your alarm has been going off for like 10 minutes." Heero said coffee mug in hand. Trowa sat up in bed, sleep still in his eyes. He lifted to covers and looked beneath.

He was going to be late for work today…

* * *

Quatre stepped out of his tent and smiled at the sun coming over the city. He turned back to see Duo kicking some poor guy out of his tent and he laughed.

"You're getting too good at breaking hearts." Quatre said.

"Well artists are too needy." Duo said. "I need to find someone self-sufficient and confident who doesn't need me to hold their hand."

"That guy on the subway was pretty cute last night." He said putting the coffee pot over the fire and smiling at the girls who were already there.

"The accountant? Yeah, he reminded me of my pervy uncle, the realtor!" Duo said flopping down on the grass wrapped in a blanket.

"Maybe that's why you liked him. Freud would have a field day with you!"

"And you with your Daddy complex should be talking about your feelings all day, blondie!" Duo leaned back, "Now, please say the coffee is ready…."

"Almost." Quatre said looking over.

"Wake me when it is. I can't bear to stay awake." He rolled over.

"Sure thing, Lana Turner."

* * *

Stocks for AT&T and Coke were higher than yesterday, Ford was down and it was suspected that Leiman's was going to go through the roof this evening at six. Trowa sat there cranking numbers at his desk, flipping cards, sending messages downstairs through his assistant and calling people on the phone.

A peek of red, blue and green glass beads were visible beneath his perfect white shirt. Only visible to someone who looked at it, much like the bags from a poor night's sleep. Trowa pushed through the day without an ounce of emotion of caring. On autopilot, he could think of nothing but swans, parks and blondes who drank like Russians and smoked French.


End file.
